Your were feet at an angle
Stuck in a moving stream,
And under your ankles the spectre of a horse.

Its chestnut mane lopped off,
An ordinary creature in a time of war,
Hooves blown, trying to make do.

Meena
Alexander

c. Meena Alexander,
2005 All Rights Reserved.
Note: Composed after seeing the performance Lethe Room ® by the Monika
Weiss. December 13, 2005. New York City, Lehman College Art Gallery.

About
the author:Meena
Alexander author of Raw Silk ( TriQuarterly Books/ Northwestern
University Press, 2004) is Distinguished Professor of English at Hunter
College and the Graduate Center, City University of New York.